1. Field of Invention:
The present invention relates to a transportable floating dock for the type of vessels that are unstable when they are stopped.
2. The State of the Art:
There are a group of highly maneuverable and relatively fast vessels, one of which is sold under the trademark Jet Ski, which can carry one or two persons standing or kneeling on a base. The user holds a handle, which pivots to the nose of the Jet Ski. The handle has the vessel's throttle. One turns a Jet Ski by leaning in the direction of the turn. The center of gravity of a Jet Ski is relatively high, especially when one is standing up. When a Jet Ski is stopped, it is somewhat unstable; the user can balance it, but it takes conscious effort to maintain one's balance. If one wants to stop a Jet Ski and engage in other activities, he or she cannot do so without constantly balancing the vessel. For example, fishing from a Jet Ski is difficult. Even stopping for conversation with other pilots is not convenient. This tends to limit to some degree the usefulness of a Jet Ski.
Jet Skis also have a relatively small space for the pilot. The space is adequate for driving a Jet Ski. The space is uncomfortably small for other social activities. What is needed is a larger space for people when the Jet Ski is stopped without sacrificing the normal compactness of a Jet Ski. Many Jet Ski owners have the other activities on shore after docking and mooring the Jet Ski.
Owners of other vessels do not have this disadvantage. Boats often are anchored away from shore, and the social activities take place there. Most boats are stable. The inside can be made large enough so that other actitivies can take place. Regular boats still can tip over if they are heavily loaded and the location of the center of buoyancy of the boat and occupants changes to cause the boat to become unstable. There are many devices designed to increase the stability of boats. One type exemplified in Shroyer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,136 (1975), uses pontoons attached to brackets on the side of a boat to prevent the boat from capsizing. Keelen, U.S. Pat. No. 2,544,599 (1951) and Walters, U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,746 (1985), both teach inflatable floatation collars extending partially or all the way around the hull of a boat. Hood, U.S. Pat. No. 2,319,132 (1943) teaches a buoyant safety cradle that can move up and down into the water around the sides of a boat to prevent the boat from capsizing. Lanning, U.S. Pat. No. 3,646,904 (1972) teaches an assembly of two pontoons held together by braces. The braces are positioned to support a snowmobile. The device is said to allow one to convert a snowmobile into a water vessel. Because of the way the Jet Ski turns by leaning sharply, one cannot have floatation devices permanently extending from the sides of the Jet Ski.